Style & Life · the companion

The four checks the book names. Now with the how-to.

The foreword promises a whole system: why the wardrobe fails, the base, colours, capsules. Four steps in that system are named but not demonstrated. Here they are, each a check you can actually do. Three seconds to three minutes.

1. Your undertone. warm or cool

The book: colour has three characteristics, and «the right question is not "can I wear blue" but "which blue is mine."» It names undertone. It doesn't show you how to read yours.
The check
  1. Bare face, daylight by a window, hair back.
  2. Hold a sheet of bright white paper under your chin, then a cream one. One makes your skin look fresher; that side is your undertone. White flatters cool, cream flatters warm.
  3. Confirm with metals: silver cleaner on you = cool, gold = warm.
Draft: Olga confirms the exact procedure (her digital-drape wording, the background values she uses). The taxonomy above is the book's.

2. Your contrast. low, medium, high

The book names low / medium / high contrast as a colour lever. without a way to Place yourself on it.
The check
  1. Take a selfie in daylight, then apply a black-and-white filter.
  2. Look at the gap between your hair, skin and eyes. Far apart in the grey (dark hair, light skin) = high contrast. You carry strong pairings. Close together = low contrast. Soft blends suit you. In between = medium.
Draft: the B&W self-check is a proposal in her method; Olga confirms the read she teaches.

3. Quality in three seconds. in the shop

The book: «a quality base does not have to be expensive.» True. But then, how do you tell quality? Not by the price tag.
The check
  1. Label. What it's made of. Natural fibres and quality blends earn their place.
  2. Light. Hold it up; a dense weave barely lets light through. Sheer where it shouldn't be is thin.
  3. Seam. Flat, even, no puckering; a generous allowance inside means it can be altered.

Price is not one of the three.

Draft: craft-consensus checks in her practical register; Olga confirms she teaches them.

4. The 70–80% you don't wear. what to actually do

The book's own figure: we wear only 20–30% of a wardrobe. It lands the problem. and The honest next question is "so what do I do with the rest?"
The answer
  1. The purge is not step one. Start with the pile that works; the rest can wait.
  2. Releasing gets easy after diagnostics. Once you know your proportions and colours, every decision stops being a guess.
  3. Nothing needs to go to waste. In Dubai: Thrift for Good (Al Quoz), Emirates Red Crescent bins, Kiswa, or resale.
Draft: the 20–30% figure is the book's; the Dubai release list and the "diagnostics first" sequencing are ours to present, hers to bless.